Flora Reinhold and the Culprit's Case
by ghoti mimi
Summary: [INDEFINITE HIATUS] Layton & Luke have been kidnapped! Flora, along with Chelmey, Barton, Emmy, & Detective Armistead, is determined to solve the case that has been laid out so well by the culprit. Finding him proves difficult until she starts thinking like Layton himself...
1. Prologue: The Disappearances

**× Prologue - -  
+ + The Disappearances**

.

The boy tried to choke out words, but all he could manage was a strained, "P-professah!" before a gloved hand covered his mouth.

"Shh, please!"

One breath of the glove was enough to knock the boy out.

Once the figure noticed this, he moved to the room across the hall.

He did the same glove trick to the sleeping man, before pulling the tall man out and carefully shoving him into the sac.

He closed both bedroom doors and left the house immediately.

* * *

**× Layton Household ;; 10:02 AM - -**

_._

Flora awoke to birds chattering away outside her barely open window. She glanced at her bedside clock.

It was ten-o'two on a bright Saturday morning.

Now, usually she would be up by eight-thirty, nine at the latest. That would be if Luke or the Professor called up to her.

She was a very light sleeper, and the sound of their voices would wake her right up. Luke always knocked at her door and said her name, and if he forgot, the Professor would call her from the kitchen.

She heard neither of them yet it was ten-o'six.

She sat on the side of her bed, and put on her slippers before getting up. The brown-haired girl went into the hall and downstairs.

Neither Luke nor the Professor were there.

Flora checked the stove and around the kitchen; it looked like nothing had been touched since last night.

"Professor?" Flora called out.  
When no one answered, she tried again "Luke?"

Again there was no response.

The girl walked back up the stairs and to Luke's bedroom.  
She knocked politely like any lady would; or so says the professor.

"Luke? Are you there?"  
After waiting a few minutes with no answer, she went across the hall to Layton's door.

Once more she knocked.  
"Professor? Are you awake yet?"

No one replied, and Flora felt she had no choice but to go inside.

There was no one there and the bed was undone.

_Okay... There's something weird going on here..._

Going back to Luke's room she found that the boy wasn't there either.

"Did they leave me here again...?" Flora asked herself quietly.  
_They would have left a note if that happened... And their beds would be made..._

She made her way back to her room and got dressed.

Flora had somewhere important to go.

* * *

**× Scotland Yard ;; 10:30 AM - -**

_._

"Chelmey, I told you, it's his day off! He doesn't have to work today!" The policeman tried reasoning with the Inspector, but to no avail.

"As long as I'm on duty, he will be too! And that's that!"

Young Constable Barton stood a little ways off from the pair, yet close enough to hear them. He sighed.  
"I wish he didn't have to be so... over-protective..."

The front door was pushed open loudly enough to get their attention. A young girl stepped in and over to the officer, a brown trunk in one hand, a notebook in the other.

"Oh, B-Barton, right? May I speak to Mister Chelmey please?" Flora asked.

"Um, okay. He's right over there. Come on." The two made their way over to the inspector who had just ended his conversation.

"Mm? What's wrong, miss... ah, Flora, I believe? What's the matter?"  
He asked, seeming to have calmed down.

"When I woke this morning, the Professor and Luke were gone! I looked all over the house, even in their bedrooms, but they were nowhere! If they had gone out on an adventure, the Professor would at least leave a note." She explained.  
"Their beds weren't even made! That's unlike either of them as well. Also, on a normal weekend morning they'd call for me by at least nine. I awoke at ten. I believe they might have been kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped, eh? But 'ow would Layton get 'imself into that? Nobody hates him that much, right?"

"Well, I don't think so. But if anyone did, they'd most likely take me, or, slim chance, Luke. But never the Professor himself."  
She set the trunk on the ground and held the notebook firmly to her chest.

"I'd like to help solve this mystery, if you don't mind."  
Flora said confidently.

"Now,, we can't have a young girl like yourself-"

"Ah! I am the Professor's adopted daughter and his protege. I am fifteen years old. I shouldn't be told to stay home and do nothing all day!" She exclaimed.  
"I will help on the investigation. That is final, okay?

Inspector Chelmey sighed.  
"Fine."

Flora smiled sweetly.  
I'll show the Professor that I can be just as helpful as Luke by solving the mystery of their kidnapping!

* * *

_**This... was longer on my iPod... -.-;;**_

_**Well, I'm going to try to keep this like a game novelization, so hopefully there won't be many authors notes. I'll probably be posting the chapters on my deviantArt account [same name: Ryoko-no-Kimi] as well, so if I have a note, I'll probably link to it.**_

_**Also, I have Flora's profile for this on my dA now too.  
**_ ryoko-no-kimi. deviantart .com /art/ FFCC-Profile-001-Flora-303131707_**  
**__**Just delete the spaces.**_


	2. Chapter 1: The Mystery Identified

_**Puzzles! There's one in this Chapter. I tried really hard to make this one long, like chapters in the games are. So that's why it took so long. Hopefully other chapters will be longer and take less time to write. Enjoy!**_

_**[EDIT;;5/30/12] Okay... checked both chapters and saw that the titles in bold [they had spaces between every letter like t.h.i.s (the dots being spaces)] didn't show up. What the chizz? Did that happen when anyone else read it?  
I liked the way it looked... stupid FFN. Had to change them both. - x -||**_**l**

* * *

**× Chapter One - -  
+ + The Mystery Identified**

****_._

Chelmey, Flora and Barton sat at the kitchen table of the girl's residence. They were discussing the missing persons and what to do.

"So, did you 'ear anything in the morning?" The Inspector asked.

"No, and I would have. I'm a very light sleeper. But I didn't hear a sound, not at all." Flora answered.

A small grin twitched at the ends of Barton's mouth. He quickly tried to suppress it.  
"So, um, when you looked through the house, was anything out of order?"  
I... I think I said that right.

"No," She brought him out of his thoughts. "Nothing was touched. Not even the tea kettle. I would think the Professor'd want some quick tea if he was going out. But it was still in the cupboard, which crosses out the theory that "he went somewhere" even more."

" 'ow so?"

"The Professor always makes time to have his tea. he never leaves the house without it." Flora said matter-of-factly.

"Mm..." Chelmey started thinking.

That was when the door slammed open.

"I heard the Professor went missing and I've come to help!" Rang the loud voice of Emmy Altava.

"Oh?"

"Eh?"

The younger girl got up and ran to her.  
"I know you! The Professor talks about you a lot! You're, um, ah! Emmy... Altava, right?"

"That's me. So who might you be?"

"I'm Flora Reinhold, the Professor's adopted daughter and protege." She responded, ever so proud of herself.

"Ah, okay." The duo walked back to the kitchen and Emmy pulled up another chair.  
"Oh... Chelmey and Barton, correct?"

The gruff man nodded.  
"Inspector Chelmey and Constable Barton 'ere on this investigation. Now 'ow'd you get to know about their disappearances, Miss Altava?"

"I went over to the Yard to see Inspector Grosky, when I overheard some men talking about it. Slammed the door and came right here."

"Very well." He turned to Flora.  
"What's in that trunk?"

"It's the Professor's. The one he usually takes on adventures. I've put everything I think I'll need in it except this notebook, which I'll carry. What's inside now is a different notebook for writing down mysteries, and a bigger book for puzzles." She nodded.

"And it's not heavy?" Emmy asked.

"Not really. The books aren't that big; I have small handwriting, so they don't have to be."

"And what's the notebook you're holding for?" Barton questioned her as well.

"Journal. I'm going to write most everything that happens on this adventure." She opened it to the first few pages.  
"See? This is an entry from this morning."

_**: : Entry 1: They're Gone!**_

_**I awoke this morning to find that both the Professor and  
Luke weren't anywhere in the house. Nothing was touched  
and there wasn't any note, so I can only assume that  
they've been kidnapped! But one question remains in my  
mind, who would do that, and why?**_

"And so far that's it."  
She finished.

"Well, shouldn't you write down the mystery?" Emmy suggested. "The Professor would do that whenever a new one came up.

"Oh, right! Of course. Thank you, Emmy.  
"Flora leaned down to open the trunk, and took out the black notebook and pen. She started to write.

_**= Mystery 001: The Disappearances**_

_**Professor Layton and Luke are missing. They couldn't have  
gone out for anything, because there is too much evidence  
**__**cancelling that theory. The undone beds, no note, nothing  
seems to have been touched, and so on. They must have  
been** **kidnapped.**_

"There." She closed the book and stacked the two notebooks.  
"So, how are we to start out investigation?"

"Well, maybe we could, um, ask around, or something?" Barton pitched the idea, unsureness leaked off his voice.

"That's a start." The older woman agreed.  
"And with the four of us, we could split up and do it faster."

"That's a good idea." Chelmey nodded abruptly. "Let's start on that now.

The four got up and left the house- Emmy and Flora going one way, Inspector Chelmey and Barton going the other- prepared to meet up in two hours at Scotland Yard.

* * *

**× Outside Layton Residence ;; 11:03 AM - -  
;; Emmy & Flora - -**

****_._

"So, we should start asking people about seeing anything unusual. Maybe they saw either of them this morning or something." Emmy started.  
"How about neighbours first?"

"Sure." The girl responded.  
"Yea, that works."

She strode over to the next house and stood in front of the fence. The man was doing yard work.

"Excuse me Do you have a moment?" She called to him.

He got up and dusted himself off before going to speak to her.  
"What do you need?"

"I was wondering, did you see Professor Layton or his apprentice Luke anytime this morning, or yesterday night, maybe?"

"I'll tell you if you can answer this puzzle first."

**Puzzle No. 001: Garden Work**

**A man is in his yard tending to his wife's flowers and bushes.  
He works three hours at night, two at noon, and one in the  
morning. After working for X amount of hours in a row, he stops  
to get a drink of water. He takes three water breaks. How many  
hours is X?**

"Hm..." Flora thought about it for a short while.

"Ah! I think I've got it!" She exclaimed.

"So what's the answer, little miss?"

"Two hours! He works for four hours straight- nine pm to twelve am and twelve to one am- so he took two water breaks, and the other break was the two hours at noon. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Nice going, Flora!" Emmy cheered.

She smiled.  
"I _am_ the Professor's protege after all."

"So you wanted to know if I'd seen them, yes? Haven't since the other day. But, last night I saw a shady figure come out of the house a large sac trailing behind him. Dunno if that's important or not, though." The man shrugged.

"Oh, that's fine." Emmy said while writing. "Big use to us. Thanks. Come on, Flora."  
The two girls walked away.

* * *

**× Scotland Yard ;; 12:56 PM - -**

****_._

"Hmf. So we didn't get anything useful, 'ow's that supposed to 'elp anything? !" Chelmey fumed.

"Um, maybe the others-" Barton was cut off by the sound of Emmy's voice.

"We have something!"

"And by something, we mean one something." Flora added.

"Hm? And what might that be?"

"One of the neighbours saw a shady figure very late last night come out of the house carrying a large sac."

"So this "kidnapper" doesn't care about the well-being of his victims, eh?" He let out a huff.  
"Rude, ain't 'e?"

Barton's face grew distressed.

"Barton?" Flora asked.  
"What's wrong?

"O-oh, um, I'm just hungry, that's all." He stuttered out quickly.

"Speaking of food, yeah, so am I. We should get something!" The Professor's assistant said.

"I haven't eaten all day. Let's do that!" Flora agreed.

And they left for lunch.

* * *

******× Scotland Yard ;; 1:12 PM - -**

_._

"Oh, that was wonderful!"

Emmy patted her stomach as she spoke. "I know I'm stuffed!"

"Yes, that was very filling." The Inspector nodded.

Barton was still eating a chicken leg from since they left the restaurant.

"So what can we do with the little information we have? Ask around some more?" Emmy questioned.  
"I don't know how much good that would do us."

"Yea, not many people are up at late hours like those. Maybe we could... um..." Flora trailed off.  
"Ah... uh, what... could we do?"

She thought for a moment.  
"I suppose we could ask around a bit more. It wouldn't hurt."

With that they split up again.

* * *

**********× Scotland Yard ;; 1:16 PM - -**

_._

"Um, Ch-Chelmey? Can we stop at the bathroom first?"  
Barton asked timidly.

The Inspector sighed. "Fine. But make it quick, we need to find a lead."

And the Constable ran inside.

* * *

******× Unknown ;; Unknown - -**

_._

The figure dashed through the alleyway, swiftly and quietly.

He dug in his pocket found something resembling a key.

"Ha..." The person panted.  
"I really... should have moved this... location to somewhere... closer..."

Taking in a deep breath, the man fumbled with the key before shoving it into a tiny hole in a seemingly concrete wall.

A door-shaped block rumbled back until a passageway was revealed. The figure ran inside fast.

"I hope you've been comfortable." His voice echoed off the thick walls of the black, underground room.  
"Because there's nowhere else you'll really be going."

"Wh-where are we?" Came a shy voice from somewhere in the dark place.  
"Wh-who are you? !"

"I... I can't answer those questions. You'll just have to figure it out on your own."  
The man flicked a switch on the wall before running back up the steps to the outside world. He grabbed the key on his way and the passage was concealed again.

"P... Professah?"


End file.
